Regional Reporting on Transitional Justice Issues

BIRN Hub
The programme aims to contribute to the reconciliation process in the region by raising awareness of transitional justice issues among the citizens of the former Yugoslav republics.

Summary

The programme aims to promote best practice among local media outlets in reporting on often sensitive post-conflict transitional justice issues.

It works to improve the state of reporting in this specific field by creating a regional network of journalists who are trained to competently cover all aspects of the process and by allowing local media to republish high quality contributions.

The team had been producing a 10-minute radio programme called “Roads to Justice”, which covered the region and was broadcast monthly by numerous radio stations throughout the Balkans. I

The BIRN team has also produced a series of six TV pieces, which were released as a feature-length film entitled “The Majority Starts Here” and a documentary film “The Unidentified”.

The Regional Reporting on Transitional Justice Issues programme targets victims’ groups in the region and in the diaspora, as well as victims of war and former camp inmates.

In addition, the programme is aimed at international NGOs, human rights groups and local and international journalists.

It is supported by the European Commission, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Robert Bosch Foundation.

Information Sheet

Main Objective:

To establish a network of journalists in the Balkans (Transitional Justice Regional Journalistic Team), who will be trained to report on transitional justice issues in the region, raising awareness and assisting in the reconciliation process.

Specific Objectives:

To contribute to the reconciliation process by raising awareness of transitional justice issues among the citizens of former Yugoslav Republics;

To improve the state of the media in this specific field while creating a regional network of journalists who are capable of covering all the aspects of the on-going process and by allowing local media to republish high quality articles;

To promote best practice in terms of reporting on often sensitive post-conflict transitional justice processes among local media outlets.

Journalists, local and worldwide, who report on transitional justice issues.

Highlights:

The documentary film The Unidentified – produced by the BIRN Hub Balkan Transitional Justice programme won the best short documentary award at the South East European Film Festival in LA. The film investigated the commanders responsible for brutal attacks during the Kosovo war.

The War Crimes Verdicts Map – an interactive tool designed by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network to provide an overview of court rulings on the crimes that were committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.